09 August, 2010

The triple looks really nice. The VO Triple Crank is a modern, stiff, cold forged crank set. It has all alloy polished chain rings, 48/36/28. The rings are pinned and ramped for easy shifting. Machined alloy dust caps - not plastic - and nice BB bolts are included. At $125 these are a great deal.

The wide range Polyvalent crank has 46/30 rings and comes with a polished alloy chain ring guard. The 46/30 rings give almost the range of a triple when used with a wide cassette, while the chain ring guard helps keep your pants clean. This is a great crank for city bikes and utility bikes.

The 46t ring is specially designed to shift properly in the middle position. (A regular 46 outer ring won't work because it's spaced for the outer position mounting.) I want to use it with a VO chain guard on my own city bike; that will be a sweet setup.

Classic 50.4 BCD cranks, like the TA, Stronglight 49D, and others are still sought after by randonneurs and cyclo-tourists. These cranks offer tremendous versatility (chain rings from 26t to 62t fit). They are also light and have very narrow Q-factors, or tread.

While the new Grand Cru Crank looks like the classics, we have made several important improvements. They are cold forged 7075 aluminum alloy. The rings are thicker so they don't flex as on classic cranks. The BB taper and all threading is common sizes, no need for special tools and BBs. The rings have modern shifting aids so shifting performance is much improved.

36 comments:

Can you comment on the Q of the Grand Cru? I notice you recommend a 118mmBB, or 116 with 2mm spacers, but don't say anything about the resultant Q.

On the other hand, the Polyvalent crank lists a 158mm Q on a 113mm BB. Is that as narrow as it will go (the cranks are right against the BB shell) or, assuming proper stay clearance, could a narrower BB be used?

Same question for the Grand Cru, please.

Also, I have at least 3 other cranksets currently mounted to bikes that could use those bolts and alloy dustcaps, if you're considering offering them separately.

The triple would be more appealing to me if it were geared lower. With a 30t small ring on the Grand Cru double and a 28t small ring on the triple, there's little functional difference between the two.

Thanks for producing the Grand Cru. I'm putting one on my Pass Hunter.

Beautiful cranks the Grand Cru. Save a batch to send to freshtripe right away... I will order a pair later!

As for remade old cranks, I have a pair of nineties Shimano cranks I would _love_ seeing a "copy" of. They have a 110/74 boltpattern, and the chainring arms go on the _outside_ of the chainrings. That mean you can put a large 46 110mm ring on, and a 28 74mm directly inside, without any q-factor wasted on space for three rings. And if you want three rings, you just use spacers. This would be a modern touring crank in my opinion, with readily available chainrings and no apparent drawbacks, only advantages.

I may be missing something, but isn't the Polyvalent just a triple crank with a guard as an outer ring? I've been gagging for a true 110/74 bcd double, but this doesn't appear to be it. I think rolling a 46/30 (or 32) would be a great answer for my needs, but that big ol chain guard is not my style.

I'm sure it's a 110/74, but it would be nice to certain what the BCD is for the Polyvalent on the VO website. But more importantly, please offer the chainring guard separately. Specialités TA stopped making their beautiful chainring guards and there is very little choice out there. Thank you!

The 110 cranks look chrome plated. I take it they are not actually chrome plated as you didn't mention it. I hope you plan on offering the chain guard by itself in more than one size. Are the cranks going to be available by themselves, as in without chainrings? Are you planning on a full range of chainrings?

Hi Chris, do I understand correctly that the crank arms are polished rather than anodized? just been reading what Jobst Brandt has to say about anodizing and crank failure so polished seems like a good idea! also please clarify, you suggest using polyvalent cranks with the chain guard - which i agree would look great - but that wouldn't work with a front derailer - or would it?

We will be making a few other sizes of 50.4bcd rings in a few months. We're still deciding on exactly which sizes. Initially we'll only make the few sizes of rings that we think will sell best. If there is demand we'll introduce more sizes.

We are also introducing a single ring version of the crank. There are no plans to sell the arms without rings yet, but bolts to convert to a triple will be available eventually.

One of the problems with a project like this is that there are so darn many possible combinations and permutations, crank arm length, single/double/triple, plus all the ring sizes. Of course the factory needs a high minimum order for each variation. And customers overwhelmingly want complete crank sets, not separate rings and arms. We could soon have all of our development capital tied up in crank inventory. That's why we have to go slow and stick to what's most popular.

The GC cranks are polished non-anodized alloy. They are made from 7075 alloy, which is much stronger than what is normally used for cranks. The VO cranks are anodized, just like Sugino XD and others, but unlike the XD the rings are also polished. I think the photos make them look shinier than they are.

The VO chain guard-Polyvalent crank combination would be a single speed. I'd remove the inner ring since a front derailleur wouldn't fit.

I'm currently using a short cage derailleur on one of my bikes with a wide-range 48/30 double and a 14/28 rear and a long cage on the other with a 12/27. Both work, but the long cage is probably slightly better.

Jed, the length of the derailleur cage required depends on how much chain you need "wrapped" . This is based on both the chain rings and the cassette or freewheel. If you have a lot of range you'll need a long cage.

I received my Grand Cru 50.4 BCD Cranks and they are stunning. I put them on a 1980 Richard Sachs NOS! frame I recently purchased and they complement it beautifully. I have one disappointment. the dust caps, while impressive looking do not sit flush inside the opening but instead straddle the hole. it doesn't look as "thought out" as the rest. Otherwise they are really quite nice, thanks so much for producing them!

Chris, The VO Imports site needs to be corrected in regards to the VO Triple crankset. I was all set to get one, thinking the rings were 24/36/48 as stated there. The actual 28/36/48 is the oddest I've ever seen, and much less useful, and killed the deal for me.

I acknowledge what you must go through when placing orders from the factory, but from a consumer point of view, I'd rather just buy the armset and buy my own rings. The model of buying a complete crank with no choice of rings is outdated , in my opinion, but everyone still does it. sigh .....

Chris, you said "I want to use it with a VO chain guard on my own city bike; that will be a sweet setup."

I bought the Polyvalent Crankset and would love to use it with the VO Chainguard. Is there enough clearance on the chainguard for a front derailleur, or do you have a tip you can share for getting this to work?